PASSINGS / Sue Burns

Part-owner of Giants was a faithful fan

Sue Burns, 58, a part owner of the San Francisco Giants who was a close friend of home run king Barry Bonds, died Sunday of complications from cancer, team spokesman Jim Moorehead said.

She was diagnosed with the disease July 10. Nearly always dressed in orange, she was a fixture at the Giants' ballpark in the lower box seats near San Francisco's dugout.

Burns, an Alaska native, often followed the team on the road and regularly went to spring training in Arizona. The Giants estimated that she attended at least 1,000 games over the last decade.

Burns and her husband, Harmon, who died of heart failure in 2006 at age 61, were largely responsible for keeping the Giants in the Bay Area in 1992 rather than relocating to Florida. Bonds arrived the next year and went on to become baseball's career home run leader when he broke Hank Aaron's record in August 2007.

The couple also were integral in building the team's 10-year-old waterfront ballpark at China Basin.

The Giants didn't detail Burns' stake in the team but said she was the club's largest shareholder. However, she was never the controlling owner of the franchise.

Bill Neukom took over as controlling owner in October 2008 from Peter Magowan, who headed the group that bought the team after the 1992 season.